Namco is a major league player when it comes to console games. And they have just released a new dual-stick survival shooter with a twist â€“ you control a newly no-longer-dead hot chick named Marie Dupois in her epic fight with the Thrum in a desperate attempt to rescue her still-alive husband. And did I mention she’s gorgeous?

Youâ€™re put in charge of newly reanimated Marie with no idea of whatâ€™s going on. There are lots of zombies around you and once you despatch them with your handy crossbow (who the hell getâ€™s buried with one?) you meet Barton â€“ an agent of The Society who claims he brought you back since youâ€™re the only one who can battle the minions of the ancient secret order: The Thrum, incidentally who took Marieâ€™s husband. With rage in your eyes and heart you go forth to save your dearie. It’s girl power, yo!

Garters & Ghouls is quite a typical representative of the dual-stick survival shooter, but with some differences. The major one would be that the goal is not to survive as long as you can, but to clear areas to advance through the story. You do this by destroying portals, which constantly spawn various types of monsters. This makes for quite an addictive gameplay and the storyline provides a solid backbone to the mindless process.

The available weapon arsenal isn’t that impressive â€“ you have a crossbow with unlimited bolts, a spread-shooter coil gun, a steam-powered machine gun and a grenade launcher. There are also lots of bonuses left from the enemies you destroy, from health restore, to rebounding or piercing shots, to special super-weapons, that you can activate when the going gets rough. Unfortunately, you can carry only one such bonus and one weapon at a time. On the other hand, you can use the gold that is also left in wake of the monsters to upgrade the weapons in various ways.

The graphics are very nice, as well as the music and sound effects. But the thing I wanted to note is the gorgeous artwork in the game. Marie is gorgeous, probably the hottest chick I have yet seen in any iPhone game and the level loading screens are beautifully drawn. And, the performance is excellent on a 3G, so no probs here.

The controls are typical for any dual stick shooter, with the left virtual stick for movement and the right for shooting. One thing that really annoyed me is that the stick for shooting makes marie turn in fixed angles of about 15 degrees at a time, which seems to serve to make aiming easier, but actually leads only to frustration because itâ€™s often quite difficult to nail the spot where the angle changes and wastes precious ammo.

Overall, Garters & Ghouls is a game worthy of attention, even if just to check out Marie Dupois. The controls do add a bit to the frustration, but unlike many other such games, this one features a solid storyline, which makes playing it a lot more rewarding. The achievements are also a nice touch. I did find the game lacking in the weapons department, but this will probably be remedied in future updates. And the developers also promised some DLC, though I havenâ€™t seen any yet.

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A project manager in a major telecommunications supplier, an iPhone junkie and lately - a TMA editor. Love long walks on the beach and my wife, who is the most beautiful girl on the face of this planet.
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